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Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go. ~ E. L. Doctorow

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Testing. Testing. 1, 2, 3. Is This Thing On?

Source: blogs.voices.com

The glory of completing my first novel, I fear, will be met with disappointment. Why you ask? My readership is abysmal. Agents and publishers give contracts to sellable authors. I can’t sell anything if I don’t have a trusted group of readers, and they don’t have the time or money to wait around until there is.

I'm constantly incorporating what I've learned to improve my blog and build a readership. My blog statistics prove people visit, but they’re useless to me. I don’t know who those people are or how they feel about my writing.

Michael Hyatt, the Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, discussed unsuccessful blogs in “Why I Stopped Reading Your Blog” today. I used his list of six reasons and a few of my own to revise my blog. Here’s what I found out:

Titles

As of right now, I am content with my blog and post titles, but I should love them. An attention-getting title that screams, “Hey! Check me out! I’m smart, witty and I guarantee you’ll be entertained,” is key. Laura’s Realm of Writing doesn’t scream anything. Drowsiness comes to mind as well as the promise of another trite blog about a wannabe writer’s attempt at success and publication.

Subject Matter

My blog represents how I feel, think and write. I’ve added pictures to make it more appealing. And after taking a website design class, I learned a “call to action” is important to coax reader participation, like responding to my posts. So, I conclude my posts with a question. Unfortunately, not too many comments are left. Is it because they don’t have time or they don’t feel moved to respond? Do I lack credibility?

Length

I’ve read a lot about this. Hyatt recommends it be 500 words or less (this blog has 503 words). Readers don’t want to spend all day reading a blog, and I haven’t always done this in the past.

Frequency

Daily blog posts tell my readers I’m serious and worth reading. As an impatient person, I’m let down when I wait for weeks to read something new. But can I produce enough interesting posts? My solution was to regularly following a few blogs and keep abreast of current writing news.

Etiquette

I should respond to my readers’ comments and thank them. I don’t do that. I apologize to those of you I left hanging.

Ping

Well, not all my friends on Facebook share my passion for reading and writing. I cannot expect them to loyally follow my blog. Pinging is an often-free service that sends out notification of updated blogs to search engines. The two I use with little problem are Pingomatic and Ping.In.

Since it’s you I am trying to reach, my writing won’t improve without your help. Leave me a comment and tell me what you like and feel I can improve on.

Do you like my blog appearance and title? Does my writing make you want to read more or scrap your eyes out?

Thanks for the input. I've tossed some ideas for a title around, but I'm not so sure it will mesh with the theme. I need the ability to communicate directly with the page builder, rather than choosing from existing templates. Not entirely sure how.